Mike Shanahan, HoFer?

[bachslunch]

At another forum, the question of whether Mike Shanahan gets in the HoF was brought up.

Some thoughts.

On the surface, he hits some of the things that would usually get a coach elected: 2 Super Bowl wins, tied for 12th all-time in wins, and a respectable enough W-L percentage (170-138 .552).

But he didn't do well in the postseason except for the two years he won it all. He doesn't have any innovator credit that I'm aware of. Worst of all, he seems to have had a really toxic reputation which marked his two year term as Raiders head coach, four year term as Washington's head coach, and at least one assistant coaching stint (the one with the Broncos in the early 90s). He seems to have bounced around a lot for an assistant coach and there may be a reason for that. Have also heard anecdotally that he was not considered especially good as a gameday coach, though I may have heard wrong.

Assuming all that's the case, I'm not so sure he gets elected. And that may well be justified. Or at the very best, he waits forever before being elected, after memories of his bad traits recede from memory and the numbers remain.

Thoughts and corrections welcome.

[BD Sullivan]

Nope

[mwald]

I'd never heard of the "toxic reputation." It seems like the criticisms of Shanahan are more circumstantial. Being fired by Al Davis' itchy trigger may be, in hindsight, a badge of honor, and he certainly got his revenge on Davis later, beating him like a nit infested Persian rug. Regarding his Redskins tenure, no coach to date has truly succeeded under Dan Snyder. Jay Gruden has come the closest, and his handling of RGIII certainly backed up Shanahan's position. His Broncos, surprisingly, beat the Holmgren/Favre Packers in the Super Bowl when they were the team de jour, then followed it up by beating the man who fired him for insubordination. That's impressive.

He didn't do much after Elway retired, but the list of coaches who climbed the hill again after the death of their bell cow is short indeed.

He wrote one of the best books on coaching I've ever read. Imagine my dismay upon hearing - from Shanahan's lips, no less - that he didn't write it. Shanny copped to it being ghost written. But there was a day when the last thing you wanted to do was face a Shanahan team.

As for his HOF qualifications, let others debate.

[7DnBrnc53]

In January 1999, he appeared headed to the Hall of Fame. However, in the 2000's, he flushed that down the drain with bad free agent signings, bad draft picks, bad play calls, and only one playoff win. Without Elway, he is 1-5 in the post-season in Denver and Washington.

[JohnH19]

No sir. Totally overrated based on the two SB wins. I believe I've said this here before but Shanahan made more poor in-game decisions than any coach I can think of.

[Jeremy Crowhurst]

I think he thinks he's not a Hall of Fame coach; that (my theory) is why he went to Washington. If he had turned things around there, he'd be a lock. But as we all know, that's a city where reputations go to die. He may as well have gone to Cleveland.

[DukeSlater]

I don't think he is a HOFer.

How do you guys think he stacks up against Dungy?

[JohnH19]

I'll take Dungy eight days a week.